Spectrum's Maiden Flight

Some of you may recall previous discussion about Spectrum, an advanced composite light jet that is being developed by Linden and his team. The plane was introduced to the world in Orlando last November prior to its maiden flight and we have kept up with the planes progress. Late Friday night I got the call to meet at Montgomery field to fly up to Utah where Spectrum was to make its historic flight. We arrived at a small airport near Provo just before noon on Saturday. While the test pilot’s met for a long pre-flight briefing we had a nice lunch at a local Chinese food restaurant. As 3:00 PM local time approached the pilots strapped on parachutes, climbed into the jet and prepared for a historic flight.

Neil Armstrong (YES the first man on the moon guy), Dan Goldin, retired head of NASA, Sandy Shapery and a few other interesting folks were present to watch the flight. What an experience it is to have the opportunity to speak with a couple of national treasures…thank you Neil & Dan!!

Just after 3:00PM on January 7, 2006 a crowd of 200 hundred strolled behind the jet as she headed out to the runway for her first take off. What a thrill it was to hear her jet engines winding up as she gained speed, lifted her nose wheel off the ground and leapt into the sky. Absolutely beautiful and what an engineering marvel the Spectrum is. She sure lived up to expectations for being extremely light weight yet very strong. Advanced Composites are here to stay and I witnessed proof of that…..see for yourself.